Textual Criticism,Translation Studies, and Symmachus'sversion in The

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Textual Criticism,Translation Studies, and Symmachus'sversion in The Textus 30 (2021) 43–63 brill.com/text Textual Criticism, Translation Studies, and Symmachus’s Version in the Book of Job Alison Salvesen Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, University of Oxford, Oxford, uk [email protected] Abstract The late second century ce translator/reviser Symmachus took a very different approach to the versions of his predecessor Aquila. His renderings do not appear to have survived in Jewish circles but were much admired by early Christian scholars, thanks to their preservation in Origen’s Hexapla. However, for textual critics of the Hebrew Bible Symmachus’ free approach has limited his value since his readings can- not be easily retroverted, unlike those of Aquila or Theodotion. In the case of the book of Job, although Symmachus’ “transformations” (to use a term from DescriptiveTransla- tion Studies) differ in nature from the freedoms observed in og Job, while rejecting the narrow isomorphism of Aquila and Theodotion he nevertheless adheres quite closely to his Hebrew Vorlage. This offers the possibility of identifying elements significant for textual criticism in his rendering, including variant reading traditions or a different consonantal text. Keywords Book of Job – Descriptive Translation Studies – Symmachus – Aquila – Theodotion – textual criticism – isomorphism 1 Introduction Since Textus focuses on textual criticism, it may seem questionable to offer a contribution on the fragmentary renderings of a famously free translator in a notoriously difficult Hebrew book. Can Symmachus (Sym.) offer anything to the text-critical study of Job? In the past I have argued that modern com- © alison salvesen, 2020 | doi:10.1163/2589255X-bja10008 This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the cc by 4.0Downloaded license. from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:04:17PM via free access 44 salvesen mentators should take the ‘Three’ Jewish Greek revisers more seriously in this respect.1 However, in contrast to his predecessors Aquila and Theodotion, Sym.’s approach to rendering his Hebrew Vorlage is far less predictable. Such inconsistency produces attractive renderings that were much admired in antiq- uity, but creates problems for using his version in textual criticism because it is difficult to retrovert his readings. 2 The Use of Ancient Versions in Textual Criticism Despite the Dead Sea discoveries in the mid-twentieth century, the role of the versions (lxx, Targum, Peshitta, Vulgate) in biblical textual criticism remains a significant one because, in contrast to the manuscripts from the Dead Sea, these ancient versions are complete rather than fragmentary. The lxx version has particular value in that certain books in the corpus were translated before many of the Qumran scrolls were copied; furthermore, they were produced in the Jewish diaspora in Egypt. Thus, they could in theory reflect textual tradi- tions varying from the mt.2 At the same time, all versions are translations, and therefore at one remove from the Hebrew text. This inevitably limits their use- fulness for text-critical purposes. Touse the lxx in textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible entails reconstruction of the underlying Hebrew of the translators, a technique referred to as retro- version. Retroversion has to be based on systematic study of the tendencies of individual translators in rendering Hebrew.3 Statistical study of renderings in different books of the lxx Pentateuch was developed from the 1950s by the Finnish school, aided by the critical editing of the text by Rahlfs and the Göt- tingen Unternehmen. This was a significant step in this regard as it avoided 1 Alison Salvesen, “The Role of Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion in Modern Commentaries on the Bible,” in Let Us Go Up to Zion: Essays in Honour of H.G.M. Williamson on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday, ed. Ian Provan and Mark Boda (Leiden: Brill, 2012), 95–112. 2 See the clear exposition of the challenges of using the versions in Emanuel Tov, Textual Criti- cism of the Hebrew Bible, 3rd ed., rev. and exp. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2012), 115–117. 3 The view of Anneli Aejmelaeus back in 1989, that the widely used term “translation tech- nique” is unhelpful since the work of the lxx translators is “characterized by intuition and spontaneity more than conscious deliberation and technique,” is still a valid one; “Translation Technique and the Intention of the Translators,” in On the Trail of the Septuagint Translators: Collected Essays, rev. and exp., cbet 50 (Leuven: Peeters, 2007), 60. See also the essay from 1998 in the same volume, “What we talk about when we talk about translation technique,” 205–222, which argues for a rounded approach combining linguistic, statistical, and theolog- ical study. DownloadedTextus from 30 Brill.com09/23/2021 (2021) 43–63 06:04:17PM via free access textual criticism and symmachus’s version of job 45 the more impressionistic or “cherry-picking” approach of older scholarship to the texts. The advent of computers enabled the alignment of the Hebrew and Greek texts for comparison—the catss project.4 Although the categori- sation of individual books as “literal” or “free” is too broad to be very helpful,5 clearly some books are less amenable to isomorphic alignment or statistical analysis than others. Their unpredictable renderings are often ascribed to lack of competence in Hebrew or to exegetical interference, sometimes both. It is only recently that lxx scholars have looked to the field of modern Translation Studies, especially Gideon Toury’s Descriptive Translation Studies (dts). Such approaches provide insights into the apparent “deviations” from more obvious renderings of the Hebrew text, to ascertain which may be attributable to vari- ants in the Vorlage and which are due to either exegesis or “transformations” required by the process of translation itself.6 One of the pioneering studies in this respect is that of Theo A.W. van der Louw’s Transformations in the Septu- agint, which takes soundings from chapters from three different lxx books— Gen 2, Isa 1, and Prov 6. A particular contribution of modern Translation Studies to Septuagint stud- ies is to provide a more sympathetic perspective on the translators’ negotiation of difficult texts by taking seriously the overall effect of the rendering. One of the many contributions the field of Translation Studies offers to biblical schol- ars is to remind us that the original text is itself polyvalent, especially in the case of poetry.7 It emphasises both the possibility and legitimacy of different 4 Computer Assisted Tools for Septuagint/Scriptural Study. 5 For an early and nuanced discussion of the issues of categorising translations, see James Barr, The Typology of Literalism in Ancient Biblical Translations, msu 15 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1979). 6 Theo A.W. van der Louw, Transformations in the Septuagint: Towards an Interaction of Septu- agint Studies and Translation Studies, cebt 47 (Leuven: Peeters, 2007). Responding to James Barr’s claim that “freedom in translation is not a tangible method, so suitably to be grasped and comprehended” (Barr, Typology of Literalism, 7), Van der Louw counters that one pur- pose of his own study is “to show that ‘free renderings’ can be grasped and comprehended. Although transformations were not always employed consistently, they often have a logic in their own right”;Transformations, 9. A more recent application of dts to Septuagint Studies is the monograph by Cameron Boyd-Taylor, Reading between the Lines:The Interlinear Paradigm forSeptuagintStudies, bts 8 (Leuven: Peeters, 2011), and especially his analysis of og Job 41:17– 26 from the perspective of dts (393–429) and descriptive profile of the book in terms of its translational norms and acceptability (425). 7 See Matthew Reynolds, The Poetry of Translation: From Chaucer and Petrarch to Homer and Logue (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 22, who insists on “the finally ungraspable nature of the literary text” because of its own multiple meanings even before any attempt at translation is made, and the danger of “a recurrent line of argument which conjures up a fantasy of perfect translation—of a work that is miraculously the same as its source despite Textus 30 (2021) 43–63 Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 06:04:17PM via free access 46 salvesen renderings, shaped by the expectations of the target readership, as well as the personal choices and education of the translator.This leads us to a better appre- ciation of the translated books of the lxx corpus as multidimensional cultural artefacts, rather than primarily sources for us to plunder for text-critical pur- poses or to criticise when they do not conform to our own expectations of a competent rendering of the Hebrew.8 Too often in biblical scholarship one still encounters the phrase, “the meaning of the Hebrew,” as if this was obvious and unambiguous. Such attitudes also overlook the fact that our own perceptions of the text’s meaning have been shaped by two millennia of scholarship and translations. The Old Greek (og) translations clearly became self-standing Greek texts very shortly after their creation, even if some could be used as cribs to the Hebrew for a few readers. Even in the case of books we regard as less close to the details and order of the Hebrew wording (such as lxx Isaiah, lxx Proverbs, and og Job), their readers would have accepted that they were faithful repre- sentations of the overall message to the present generation in its own cultural context.9 existing in the changed circumstances of a different language and culture.” Lawrence Venuti makes a similar point: “The source text is never accessible in some direct, unmediated man- ner; it is always already mediated, whether it is read in the source language or translated into the receiving language”; The Translation Studies Reader, 3rd ed.
Recommended publications
  • (CE:1227A-1228A) HEXAPLA and TETRAPLA, Two Editions of the Old Testament by ORIGEN
    (CE:1227a-1228a) HEXAPLA AND TETRAPLA, two editions of the Old Testament by ORIGEN. The Bible was the center of Origen's religion, and no church father lived more in it than he did. The foundation, however, of all study of the Bible was the establishment of an accurate text. Fairly early in his career (c. 220) Origen was confronted with the fact that Jews disputed whether some Christian proof texts were to be found in scripture, while Christians accused the Jews of removing embarrassing texts from scripture. It was not, however, until his long exile in Caesarea (232-254) that Origen had the opportunity to undertake his major work of textual criticism. EUSEBIUS (Historia ecclesiastica 6. 16) tells us that "he even made a thorough study of the Hebrew language," an exaggeration; but with the help of a Jewish teacher he learned enough Hebrew to be able to compare the various Jewish and Jewish-Christian versions of the Old Testament that were extant in the third century. Jerome (De viris illustribus 54) adds that knowledge of Hebrew was "contrary to the spirit of his period and his race," an interesting sidelight on how Greeks and Jews remained in their separate communities even though they might live in the same towns in the Greco-Roman East. Origen started with the Septuagint, and then, according to Eusebius (6. 16), turned first to "the original writings in the actual Hebrew characters" and then to the versions of the Jews Aquila and Theodotion and the Jewish-Christian Symmachus. There is a problem, however, about the next stage in Origen's critical work.
    [Show full text]
  • GREEK SOURCES of the COMPLUTENSIAN POLYGLOT Natalio Fernández Marcos Centro De Ciencias Humanas Y Sociales. CSIC. Madrid In
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Digital.CSIC GREEK SOURCES OF THE COMPLUTENSIAN POLYGLOT Natalio Fernández Marcos Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales. CSIC. Madrid In the Grinfield Lectures 2003 devoted to The Study of the Septuagint in Early Modern Europe Prof. Scott Mandelbrote deals, among other interesting issues, with the text of the Alcalá Polyglot, the earliest printed text of the Septuagint completed the 10th July 1517. He pointed out the impact of the arrival of Codex Alexandrinus in England in 1627 and its use as one of the main authorities for the London Polyglot (1653–1657), whose editor, Brian Walton, was especially critical of the text of the Complutensian Polyglot and the precise age of the manuscripts on which it had been based.1 Indeed, Walton’s judgement is highly negative; he maintains that the Greek text of the Alcalá Polyglot is very far from the genuine Septuagint. It is a compilation of several different texts with Hexaplaric additions and even Greek commentaries in an attempt to relate it to the Hebrew text printed in the parallel column.2 He backs up his statement with some examples taken from the first chapter of the book of Job. Since then the vexed problem of the Greek manuscripts used by the Complutensian philologists has been dealt with by different scholars, including myself. However, I think it is worthwhile taking another look at the question in the light of new evidence which has recently been published in the context of Septuagint textual criticism.
    [Show full text]
  • To Bible Study the Septuagint - Its History
    Concoll()ia Theological Monthly APRIL • 1959 Aids to Bible Study The Septuagint - Its History By FREDERICK W. DANKER "GENTLEMEN, have you a Septuagint?" Ferdinand Hitzig, eminent Biblical critic and Hebraist, used to say to his class. "If not, sell all you have, and buy a Septuagint." Current Biblical studies reflect the accuracy of his judgment. This and the next installment are therefore dedicated to the task of helping the Septuagint come alive for Biblical students who may be neglecting its contributions to the total theological picture, for clergymen who have forgotten its interpretive possibilities, and for all who have just begun to see how new things can be brought out of old. THE LETTER OF ARISTEAS The Letter of Aristeas, written to one Philocrates, presents the oldest, as well as most romantic, account of the origin of the Septuagint.1 According to the letter, Aristeas is a person of con­ siderable station in the court of Ptolemy Philadelphus (285-247 B. C.). Ptolemy was sympathetic to the Jews. One day he asked his librarian Demetrius (in the presence of Aristeas, of course) about the progress of the royal library. Demetrius assured the king that more than 200,000 volumes had been catalogued and that he soon hoped to have a half million. He pointed out that there was a gap­ ing lacuna in the legal section and that a copy of the Jewish law would be a welcome addition. But since Hebrew letters were as difficult to read as hieroglyphics, a translation was a desideratum. 1 The letter is printed, together with a detailed introduction, in the Appendix to H.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 P. Vindob. G 39777 (Symmachus) and the Use of the Divine Names in Greek Scripture Texts
    1 P. Vindob. G 39777 (Symmachus) and the Use of the Divine Names in Greek Scripture Texts Emanuel Tov The Psalms fragments of P. Vindob. G 39777, probably from the Fayum in Egypt, kept at the Austrian National Library, were published as a fragment of Aquila's translation in an editio princeps by Wessely and subsequently also by Capelle.1 At a later stage Mercati suggested that the fragment may have been part of the translation by Symmachus (approximately 200 CE),2 and this view became the communis opinio in scholarship. Indeed, anyone who is familiar with Aquila's style recognizes immediately that the free translation style of this fragment does not suit that translator, while it would be typical of Symmachus. Roberts described the two fragments (Ps 69 [LXX 68]:13–14, 31–32 and 81 [80]:11–14) as deriving from a parchment roll of Psalms dating to the third or fourth century CE.3 These fragments have been mentioned in many sources,4 and their full publication history and physical description are provided by A. Rahlfs and D. Fraenkel.5 P. Vindob. G 39777 includes the fragmentary remains of respectively three and five lines of two columns of Psalm 69 (LXX: 68) and five lines of one column of Psalm 81 (LXX: 80) in the version of Symmachus. The readings of Symmachus show his free translation style which has been analyzed by Busto Saiz for Symmachus in Psalms in general,6 with no special focus on this fragment. The most remarkable feature of the Vienna fragments is the writing of the Tetragrammaton in paleo-Hebrew characters in the following verses: Ps 69 (LXX: 68):14, 31, 32.
    [Show full text]
  • Biblical Greek and Post-Biblical Hebrew in the Minor Greek Versions
    Biblical Greek and post-biblical Hebrew in the minor Greek versions. On the verb συνϵτζ! “to render intelligent” in a scholion on Gen 3:5, 7 Jan Joosten To cite this version: Jan Joosten. Biblical Greek and post-biblical Hebrew in the minor Greek versions. On the verb συνϵτζ! “to render intelligent” in a scholion on Gen 3:5, 7. Journal of Septuagint and Cognate Studies, 2019, pp.53-61. hal-02644579 HAL Id: hal-02644579 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02644579 Submitted on 28 May 2020 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Les numéros correspondant à la pagination de la version imprimée sont placés entre crochets dans le texte et composés en gras. Biblical Greek and post-biblical Hebrew in the minor Greek versions. On the verb συνετίζω “to render intelligent” in a scholion on Gen 3:5, 7 Jan Joosten, Oxford Les numéros correspondant à la pagination de la version imprimée sont placés entre crochets dans le texte et composés en gras. <53> The post-Septuagint Jewish translations of the Hebrew Bible are for the most part known only fragmentarily, from quotations in Church Fathers or from glosses figuring in the margins of Septuagint manuscripts.
    [Show full text]
  • Bible Studies • Біблійні Студії
    Bible Studies • Біблійні студії PAVLOS D. VASILEIADIS The Pronunciation Aristotle University of Thessaloniki of the Sacred Tetragrammaton: Greece An Overview of a Nomen Revelatus [email protected] that Became a Nomen Absconditus Prologue The name of the God of the Bible is instrumental in understanding His identity. The Hebrew “quadriliteral” term , can be located in the core of almost every theological attempt to describe the biblical notion of God — either Jewish or Christian.2 For centuries, this sacred name was met with only in Semit- ic contexts. But during the Hellenistic period, a crucial meeting between Hebrew and Greek cultures happened. There came a fundamental shift in the understanding of the identity of the God who bears this name and, consequently, of the meaning attribut- ed to his name. Judaism moved from the biblically active “becoming,” as a covenan- tal God who seeks to get in close relation with faithful humans, to the philosophically static “being,” more akin to the Platonic view of God as immutable and utterly trans- cendent. A result of this development was that the divine name gradually became a ta- boo to the Jews. It may have started as reverence but it ended up as a long-lasting super- stition. Since the Tetragrammaton became ineffable, the exact ancient pronunciation was thought to be lost or restricted to a few initiates. Philo, a contemporary of Jesus and the apostle Paul, was the first to describe God as “unnameable,” “unutterable,” and completely incomprehensible.3 The Tetragrammaton — a name that appears more than 6, times in the Hebrew Bible — was replaced by various circumlocutions, like “the Name” or “the Holy One.” Copies of the Greek LXX Bible made early in the Chris- tian era had their text quickly overwhelmed by substitute titles like “Lord” and “God” in place of God’s name.
    [Show full text]
  • Prefatory Materials of the King James Bible
    THE PREFATORY MATERIALS OF THE KING JAMES BIBLE Ý The Translators’ Dedication to King James and their Addresss to the Reader in the King James Bible. 1611 By Matthew Verschuur The Prefatory Materials of the King James Bible First published 2010 Copyright Matthew Verschuur This material has been produced for personal study, ministry teaching and Christian educational purposes. Bible Protector www.bibleprotector.com ¶ Introduction This work was written around 2003/2004. It was later condensed significantly and formed part of the Guide to the Pure Cambridge Edition. It is an initial treatment and attempt to understand the teachings and the references of the King James Bible translators’ scholarship. Since this work was analytical and notational in nature, and represented initial investigations into these details, it must contain various crudities and incomplete assessments. Thus, it must be stressed that this is only a novice study. As the King James Bible went to the press in 1611, a dedication was written by Thomas Bilson, and an admonition to the reader was written by Miles Smith. These two works in combination show the intention of the translators in their work, and explain various principles in their labouring to present of the Word of God. These two works are called “The Epistle Dedicatory” and “The Translators to the Reader”. This work treats both these statements. § I. Notes on The Epistle Dedicatory ¶ 1. Overview of The Epistle Dedicatory The Dedication was written by the 1611 translator, Thomas Bilson. It appeared in the 1611 Edition, and has been retained in Cambridge Bibles ever since. A full and proper Cambridge copy of The Epistle Dedicatory (TED) has been supplied, mainly because of slight differences that can be observed in it in different King James Bibles.
    [Show full text]
  • Prudentius' Contra Symmachum, Book II Introduction, Translation and Commentary
    Prudentius' Contra Symmachum, Book II Introduction, Translation and Commentary Michael Brown NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY ------------------------- 201 29877 3 ---------------------------- A thesis submitted to the University of Newcastle upon Tyne for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts June 2003 Declaration I hereby certify that the work in this thesis is my own except where otherwise acknowledged, and has not been submitted previously at this or any other university. Michael Brown Abstract Prudentius' Contra Symmachum contains a refutation of Symmachus' plea for the retaining of the altar of Victory in the Senate house at Rome which had been removed in 357 and then, after its restoration, probably under Julian, was removed again in 382. Symmachus made a plea for its return in 384 in his Relatio 3. Ambrose wrote two letters (Ep. 17 and 18) urging the emperor to reject Symmachus plea. It is not certain whether the altar was ever returned to the Senate house. It was this debate with Symmachus which Prudentius sought to portray in verse. This he does in the second book of the poem which is the book to be considered here. The first book while mentioning Symmachus, is a routine attack on the pagan gods of Rome and an account of how paganism was overthrown by the emperor Theodosius resulting in Rome adopting Christianity. There has been much debate over whether the two books were conceived as a single composition. This issue is examined again and the conclusion is reached, by a study of the text, that, while Prudentius had it in mind to produce a work of anti-pagan polemic as part of his compendium covering various aspects of Christian life, the work was produced as a whole in 402.
    [Show full text]
  • The Religious World of Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
    The Religious World of Quintus Aurelius Symmachus ‘A thesis submitted to the University of Wales Trinity Saint David in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy’ 2016 Jillian Mitchell For Michael – and in memory of my father Kenneth who started it all Abstract for PhD Thesis in Classics The Religious World of Quintus Aurelius Symmachus This thesis explores the last decades of legal paganism in the Roman Empire of the second half of the fourth century CE through the eyes of Symmachus, orator, senator and one of the most prominent of the pagans of this period living in Rome. It is a religious biography of Symmachus himself, but it also considers him as a representative of the group of aristocratic pagans who still adhered to the traditional cults of Rome at a time when the influence of Christianity was becoming ever stronger, the court was firmly Christian and the aristocracy was converting in increasingly greater numbers. Symmachus, though long known as a representative of this group, has only very recently been investigated thoroughly. Traditionally he was regarded as a follower of the ancient cults only for show rather than because of genuine religious beliefs. I challenge this view and attempt in the thesis to establish what were his religious feelings. Symmachus has left us a tremendous primary resource of over nine hundred of his personal and official letters, most of which have never been translated into English. These letters are the core material for my work. I have translated into English some of his letters for the first time.
    [Show full text]
  • The Role of Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion in Modern Commentaries on the Hebrew Bible
    THE ROLE OF AQUILA, SYMMACHUS AND THEODOTION IN MODERN COMMENTARIES ON THE HEBREW BIBLE Alison Salvesen I. The Identity of the Three In the textual notes of modern philological commentaries on the Hebrew Bible there are sometimes references to Aquila, Symmachus, and The- odotion (henceforth Aq., Sym., Theod., or ‘the Three’), or to their sigla in Greek, α´, σ´, θ´. Often the introduction to a commentary explains that the major versions of the LXX, Peshiṭta, Targumim, and Vulgate will be cited, and less frequently the significance of these versions for the textual history of the Hebrew book commented upon. Yet it is rare for any com- mentary to explain the importance of the later Jewish Greek versions.1 In this essay it will be argued that for modern study of the biblical text, the ‘Three’ are valuable witnesses both to the emerging MT between the turn of the Era and 200 ce, and to the meaning as it was understood at a time much closer to that of the biblical writers than our own. Almost all that we have of the Jewish Greek versions of Aq., Sym., and Theod. depends ultimately on the work of the early third century scholar Origen. Perturbed by the differences between the Church’s LXX and the contemporary Hebrew text used by Jews, Origen had assembled a number of later Greek translations known to him. He set them out synoptically along with the Hebrew text and a transliterated version of the Hebrew, in the multi-columned work known subsequently as the Hexapla.2 Apart from the entire version of the book of Daniel bearing Theod.’s name,3 almost all of the versions of the Three are preserved only in a 1 The fullest and most accurate account to date remains that of N.
    [Show full text]
  • Timeline 100 BC ‒ 44 Julius Caesar, Roman General and Writer BC 27 BC Death of Marcus T., Author on the Affairs of the Countryside 55-117 C.120 Tacitus (P
    Timeline 100 BC ‒ 44 Julius Caesar, Roman general and writer BC 27 BC Death of Marcus T., author On the Affairs of the Countryside 55-117 c.120 Tacitus (P. Cornelius Tacitus) 97/98 Publication of On Germany 70 Death of Lucius Junius Columella, author of On Agriculture c.100 Mithraism appears as a cult in the Roman Empire. c.155 Martyrdom of Polycarp of Smyrna c.232-c.303 Porphyry, Neoplatonic philosopher 235-84 The ‘third-century crisis’ of usurpations and revolts 284-305 Reign of Emperor Diocletian 286 Empire divided between two augusti: Diocletian in the East, and Maximian in the West 301 Edict of Prices, shortly after an edict on tax-reform c.311-83 Ulfilas, missionary to the Goths, translator of the Bible into Gothic 306-37 Reign of Emperor Constantine 306 306 Constantine elected emperor ('raised to the purple’) at York 312 Battle of Milvian Bridge; Conversion of Constantine to Christianity 313 Edict of Milan 314 Council of Arles on Donatism 324 Victory over the eastern emperor Licinius; founding of Constantinople 325 Council of Niceaea on Arianism Basilica Nova¸ Rome Church of Santa Constanza, Rome c.315/c.336- St Martin, bishop of Tours 397 c. 360 Monastery of Ligugé founded c.345-402 Symmachus, senatorial aristocrat in the West c. 330-79 St Basil ‘the Great’ 357-8 Visits monks in Egypt and the Holy Land 358-9 Rule of St Basil c. 339-97 St Ambrose, bishop of Milan c. 360-after 430 John Cassian, monk, author of the Institutes and the Conferences 353/5-431 Paulinus, founder of the monastery of Nola (southern Italy) 357 Battle of Strasbourg 360-3 Reign of the pagan Emperor Julian the Apostate 363 Julian killed in the course of a Persian campaign 364-78 Reign of Emperor Valens in the East 372 Monastery of Marmoûtiers founded 376 Visigoths cross the River Danube and settle in the Roman province of Thrace 378 Valens defeated and killed by the Goths at the Battle of Adrianople.
    [Show full text]
  • The Psalm 22:16 Controversy: New Evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls
    BYU Studies Quarterly Volume 44 Issue 3 Article 9 9-1-2005 The Psalm 22:16 Controversy: New Evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls Shon Hopkin Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq Recommended Citation Hopkin, Shon (2005) "The Psalm 22:16 Controversy: New Evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls," BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 44 : Iss. 3 , Article 9. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol44/iss3/9 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in BYU Studies Quarterly by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Hopkin: The Psalm 22:16 Controversy: New Evidence from the Dead Sea Scrol The Psalm 22:16 Controversy New Evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls Shon Hopkin ew verses in the Bible have produced as much debate and commentary F as Psalm 22:16: “For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.”1 The dis- cussions center on the last character (reading right to left) of the Hebrew vrak (“pierced/dug”), assumed to be the word from which the Septuagint Greek çrujan (“they have pierced”) was translated—assumed because the original Hebrew texts from which the Septuagint was translated are no longer extant. If the last character of the Hebrew word was a waw (v), as the Greek seems to indicate, then the translation “pierced” is tenable. But a later Hebrew text called the Masoretic text has a yod (y) instead of a waw (v), mak- ing the word yrak, which translated into English reads “like a lion my hands and my feet.”2 Thus, two divergent possibilities have existed side by side for centuries, causing much speculation and debate.
    [Show full text]